In addition, the Nintendo 3DS--due to launch no later than March 2011 and confirmed to be backwards compatible with the software of both the vanilla Nintendo DS and the camera-equipped Nitnendo DSi--will also include stronger measures to prevent the use of pirated software and games, though Iwata refused to elaborate on the specifics.

"We fear a kind of thinking is become widespread that paying for software is meaningless," he said. "We have a strong sense of crisis about this problem."